What happened on August 11 - Interesting US History

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ON THIS DAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY

August 11, 1885

Financing for the Statue of Liberty Pedestal is Completed

On this day in 1885, donations for the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty reached $102,000, three years after the fund-raising began and seven years after the head was first displayed at the Paris World's Fair. Although, the statue was financed by the French, it was up to the Americans to build the pedestal.

On the heels of an economic depression that started in 1873 and lasted into the 1880's, raising the money needed for the pedestal was not easy. As the New York Times stated at the time, "no true patriot can countenance any such expenditures for bronze females in the present state of our finances." and Harper's Weekly opined that they wished the French had "'gone the whole figure' while they were about it, and given us statue and pedestal at once."

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